Ultimatum! Give Us N1bn Before March 24 Or..., Abductors of School Children

The March 7, 2024 abductors of 287 pupils and teachers of LEA Primary School and Government Secondary School, Kuriga, Kaduna State, have issued an ultimatum, ordering that ransom be paid within 20 days of the order or expect dire consequences. 

Reports gleaned from Reuters said the kidnappers made the demand via a call to spokesperson of the community, ordered that the ransom be coughed out within the period or risk not seeing the return of the victims again. 

"They made a total of N1bn ransom demand for all the pupils, students, and staff of the school.

“They gave an ultimatum to pay the ransom within 20 days, effective from the date of the kidnap (March 7). They said they would kill all the students and the staff if the ransom demand is not met," the contact, simply identified as Aminu, disclosed. 

The demand, Reuters said, was also confirmed by the councillor representing Kuriga Ward, Chikun council area, Idris Ibrahim. Ibrahim, the medium said, affirmed that indeed the community has received the ransom demand.

“Yes, the kidnappers called the community through Jubril Aminu’s number and made the demand,” he said.

“They called from a hidden number but the authorities are working on getting the number,” Ibrahim told Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, disclosed that the hostages are being held in difficult location, adding that they are being used as human shield to prevent bombardment.

Director of Media Operations, Maj Gen Buba Edward, who described the abduction as a very sensitive issue, made the disclosure while addressing newsmen at the DHQ Abuja. 

“The hostage situation is an extremely sensitive one, which, unfortunately, is not unprecedented in the history of the ongoing war. These hostages are being held in locations that are difficult to get to, but not out of reach. The situation is, however, indicative of the desperation of these terrorists to avoid troops onslaught by all means. “

He noted that terrorists resorted to attacking harmless citizens as a result of the military onslaught against them.

He added that the criminal groups carried out the attacks on the schools to boost their recruitment drive, noting that the military had in past operations killed their commanders and foot soldiers.

"The terrorists have exhibited gross cowardice. If you are following our operations you will know that we have been going after them and killed many of their commanders and foot soldiers. Troops have unleashed onslaught on them. They have made life unbearable and too hot for them. In return, they have gone for soft targets and the reason is obvious.

“I told you recently, we just received some platforms. These platforms are not for jokes. If many do not know the functions of these platforms, I tell you, the terrorists do. To protect themselves, they carried out these recent attacks to use their victims as human shields and also to surge their recruitment drive because we have depleted their ranks."